The Good: This second Persephone Alcmedi book has cemented my absolute love for the series. A witch competition, complete with murder mystery? Love it. Seph really starting to accept her place in the world? Awesome. Becoming more open to the possibility of Johnny? Fantastic. Especially given her ties to Menessos. Sparks, flying all over the place. In Hallowed Circle, we get to see more witches, specifically coven witches and it was really entertaining to see how the other half lives. I've already started the next book (Fatal Circle) and am sure I'm not going to be able to stop myself from reading the rest of the series back to back. It's that good.

This is the second book in the Persephone Alcmedi series. There are nine books planned in this series, with the fifth book Wicked Circle, planned for a December 2011 release. I really enjoyed this book even more than Vicious Circle (Book 1). I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series, but enough back story is given that it's not absolutely necessary.

This book picks up shortly after the first book ends. Persephone (Seph) is trying to adjust to the idea of being the Lustrata, housing a young girl, housing her older mother, and housing Johnny the werewolf who is protecting her. In addition to that she is finding that being bound to the vampire wizard Menessos has given her some strange new powers. Then two things happen; first she is nominated to enter the competition to become the local Coven's next High Preistess and second a fairy comes to warn her that other fairies will be out for her blood because of her relationship to Menessos.

The majority of the book deals with Seph competing for the position of High Priestess. Seph's issues with all the other people in her life are woven around this competition and eventually everything ties together. I really enjoyed how Seph grew as a character in this book. Seph is great, she is always out to help people, remains very down to earth, and yet still comes off as a tough girl at times. Johnny and Menessos are also intriguing characters with complex pasts that you really want to learn more about.

This book was more solid urban fantasy than paranormal romance; which I love. There are a couple hot scenes between Seph and Johnny, but that is definitely not the focus of the book. I love that Seph appears to be a one man girl; at least so far...

The plot was very well done. Robertson has a number of different plot elements going on, but they are very well woven together and never seem too frantic. I was impressed with how all of these plot elements came together in the end (everything seemed well planned out) and with how the story was set up to continue on into the next book, Fatal Circle.

Robertson also does an incredibly good job of explaining the magic system in her books. I really love that; I hate it when there is no system or thought behind magic. You can tell that Robertson has really thought through her magic system. The action scenes were also very well done and the pacing is perfect. This was a hard book to put down and I found myself incredibly engaged throughout the whole story. There is humor woven throughout which makes the book even more fun to read and lightens things up so that the book never gets too dark.

Overall I was very impressed with this book and really enjoyed it. The characters are interesting and engaging, the plot well woven, the writing easy to read and fun, action scenes are well done, the magic system also well put together and interesting. Seph is a character you really grow to love and you can't help but cheer her on. Robertson has created a world and characters that are a step above many other urban fantasies out there. Fans of The Hollows series by Kim Harrison, Jane Yellowrock by Faith Hunter, October Daye by Seanan McGuire, Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and similar authors should give this series a try. ( )

I looked forward to this book ever since I read the first book "Viscious Circle" on a whim. The supporting characters drew me in immediately, especially werewolf, band-leader Johnny. I also loved that Persephone took in orphaned Beverly and her elderly and sharp tongued grandmother. "Hallowed Circle" was another great installment. Persephone is running for the high priestess or coven leader, mostly as a favor to a friend and she has no desire to win. She just wants to make sure the coven doesn't get another horrible leader. The book really felt like it read in three parts to me. The first part showed her day to day life with Grandma and Beverly. More so, it focused on her growing relationship with Johnny. The second part of the book was the grit of the story, the competition for coven leader. Here we are introduced to a handful of new characters, including the Elderenne who has some kind of connection to vampire Menessos, and Hunter, the snooty, know it all who is Seph's biggest competition. The tests the girls go through are all interesting in their own right and I really enjoyed seeing what happened, especially when the power went out and bodies start being discovered. However, this was a long stretch of the book where we don't see are supporting characters, and I kind of missed them there. I think they really add a lot to this series. The final part of the book resolves some of the threads from the first two parts. Johnny and Seph have to figure out what is going on with them, the coven leader is named and there is an interesting conflict at the end which sets up a great plot for future stories. I really enjoyed this book. Linda Robertson writes a well crafted story and her characters are definitely the life force behind it. I saw a lot of similarities between the first book and other Urban Fantasy series out there but in this second book Robertson proves her series is unique. I will definitely be continuing on with this series ( )

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"And you think beauty pageants are scary? Persephone Alcmedi has been persuaded to compete for the position of High Priestess of the Cleveland, Ohio, coven--now that the former priestess, Vivian Diamond, has strangely gone missing. Unfortunately, there are a few small problems with the idea. Not only does Seph know rather more about Vivian's disappearance than the other witches realize, but the epic struggle she's just survived has left her with some highly unusual powers--ones that could be dangerous to reveal. Despite her reluctance, she agrees to participate, if only to prevent snooty Hunter Hopewell, an obnoxious but talented witch, from ending up in the winner's circle..."--p.[4] of cover.… (more)